Fisher – I needed to go back to my roots

England international Heather Fisher has revealed that coming back to Worcester has helped relieve the pressure on her illustrious rugby career.

Fisher returned to Worcester Valkyries earlier this month and made her second debut for the Club in a 19-5 victory away to Saracens Women.

And the 32-year-old marked her home debut at Sixways with a try to remember as she produced a pulsating run from the halfway line to score in spectacular fashion.

After finishing fourth in the Rio Olympic games with Team GB Women’s Rugby Sevens, Fisher explained why she returned to Worcester to join the Valkyries.

She said: “Sometimes you’ve got to come back to your roots. It’s great being on the international stage and obviously being at Rio but now I just want to be back at my roots and enjoying what I do.

“You work so hard day in day out in the weights room, with the strength and conditioning coach and with skills training, and it’s physically and mentally fatiguing.

“As an individual I just wanted to come back to my roots and enjoy playing, and to get outside my bubble and to meet new people who are grounded.”

With an already well-decorated career including her latest success at the Rio Olympics in Brazil, Fisher admits she feels no expectation on herself when playing for the Valkyries.

She explained: “I don’t feel any expectation on myself personally. I’ll pride myself on doing the basics right and make sure I lead in the way I know how to lead.

“When you’re young and you set out in a new sport, it’s all about enjoyment, so it’s important to remember where you came from.”

Fisher is one of the most explosive female rugby players of her generation and the newest addition to the Valkyries squad commented on the side’s most recent success over Darlington Mowden Park Sharks.

She said: “It was a tremendous result for Worcester. It was down to just confidence but we ended up putting 36 points on them and it was a pretty good start for us.

“We were down going into half-time, but after the break we got the basics right. The passing, catching and communication were all right.

“We worked off each other and you take that for granted sometimes when you talk about doing your job but sometimes you need to actually break the game down and know exactly what your job is and get that right.”

Whether its club or country, Fisher insists that consistency is key.

She continued: “It’s the art of playing, whether it’s international or club level.

“Getting the consistency right is key and that comes from repetitive sessions together and knowing each other.”

Fisher also shared her thoughts on the comparison between playing full-time and part-time.

She added: “We aren’t full-time players so people will compare us to the guys who train together day in day out and there’s a lot to be said for that.

“When you train, you work off each other really well and when you’re not with each other day in day out, you don’t know what someone’s going to do in a game situation.

“It takes time to gel and once we’ve got that under our belt we’ll be in a really good place come next season.”

The Valkyries are in action away at Wasps this Sunday (kick-off 2pm) but are back at home at Sixways on Saturday 29 October against Lichfield Ladies.